Tag Archives: rice flour

When one goes gluten-free, I think that the amount of rice consumed by said person exploses. Like, missile high. Scratch that,atmosphere galaxy high. Whether it’s in restaurants (looks like we’ll be having sushi tonight, no wheat!) or at home (rice flour is now king), I can’t really say too much of anything is ever good for you. Unless you’re fiercely in love, or writing a book, then putting an abnormal time into that thing is probably a good thing, but with rice? eh. Not sending rockets in my emotional hemisphere.

In fact, it might be. Rice is a grain that is gluten-free, and of course just fine in moderation, but that is also acidic in nature (which we consume too much of in general), and contains sugars. There are many health problems that stem from too much sugar and acidity in the stomach, from ulcers to bacterial overgrowths to straight up diabetes. What’s more, if you’re cooking with white rice, or refined rice flour, you may be cutting out gluten, but wouldn’t it be cool to give your taste buds (and stomach) a break?

Yeahhhhh totally would.

So! Tonight I had a little experiment at my humble abode… I made a kinda-sushi-roll. But! instead of seaweed on the outside I used avocado, instead of rice I used cooked millet, and instead of raw fish I used smoked salmon. I think you’ll dig it. Enjoy:

inverted avocado millet kinda-sushi

1 avocado, cut into thin slices

1/2 cup cooked millet*

2 slices smoked salmon (organic if you can find!), or vegetarian protein of choice

optional 8 thin slices green onion, cooked or raw

–

preparation time: 8 minutes

serves 1-2

1. Cover a cutting board with plastic film. Lay out avocado slices in a vertical line with little overlap.

2. Lay out the cooked millet in a thin layer to cover just half of the avocado length-wise. (see image.) You can also add your onions if you’d like here.

3. Add smoked salmon, thinly sliced, in the middle. Take the plastic film in two hands on the side of the millet. Fold it over the top of the ingredients as you would making a burrito. When the plastic reaches the other plastic, as in it rolls on top of itself, pull it snug like you would a burrito. Then, roll the entire roll over the plastic to seal it in. Make sure it’s tightly wrapped!

4. You can either cut the rolls with the plastic on if your knife is on the not-so-sharp side, or if your knife is running on all gears, cut it directly and transfer to the serving plate with a spatula.

*of course, you can use rice if you’d like. Just a suggestion, and something that tasted good. :)

It’s like a dream, an inverted, chocolate-laced, cheesecake flavored twisted reverie of a treat loved past.

If I were a professional nature show host, I might say that what we’ve got here, mate, is a very rare breed. “It seems to resemble oreo, yes, that’s sure. Only that it’s a little more like a brownie, and makes me feel good when I eat it. It seems to be a little short on the gluten, and, oddly, instead of having an overly sweet filling, it tastes like cheesecake. I reckon we better let this lil bugga into the wild for all to enjoy.”

This is why I don’t host a nature show? –amongst many reasons… um yeah.

I’ll stick to the kitchen: It’s also nut, corn, and egg-free, and can be vegan if you want it to be. Lactose is either minimal or very optional. ahhh, makes more sense. ;)

This recipe came about when I was playing with ways to combine blended flax seeds and cocoa powder. I really wanted something sweet, and did not want to intake a ton of sugar. Egg whites don’t sit well with me, so the flax seeds and I have been spending lots of time together in pastry land. The result was unexpected and beautiful inside and out. (Inside and out of me and the cake itself.)

frosting:1/2 cup mascarpone or vegan cream cheese2 tsp. rice milk1 tsp. vanillapinch salt4 tsp. powdered sugar (this is not too sweet, but just right for me. if you’d like it more sweet add another ~2 tbs. powdered sugar to taste.)

1. Prepare cake: soak flax seeds in water in a covered container for 6 hours room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C). Blend both water and flax seeds with vanilla, agave nectar, and sea salt until white and few traces of seed shells remain.
3. In separate large bowl combine dry ingredients. Add flax seed mixture and oil. Combine until homogenous.

4. Prepare one large brownie pan or two small cake pans with a thin layer of oil/cooking spray and a dusting of rice flour. (You want the batter to spread out to be about an inch thick, no more.)
5. Spoon batter into prepared cake molds and bake for about 30 minutes, until center is solid and top is crusted. Remove from heat, let cool entirely before frosting.

6. Prepare frosting: mix all ingredients until homogenous. Transfer entirety of frosting into a piping bag with a large circular tip.
7. Finish cake: pipe parallel and equal rows of oreo-filling size circles onto the top of your cake as shown in the photos. Cut into a square or rectangle for something classy, and serve, ideally, in a square or rectangle shape with a few strawberries and perhaps a glass of bubbly?

Teff flour has been one of my favorite substitutes for wheat flour for a while now. Teff milk was a new discovery today: I’m not sure that rice milk is the best thing to consume out of the lactose-free milks as it’s basically just sugar. It’s not bad, but it’s not rich, either. Teff milk has now been my favorite dairy-free milk for one day. A whole day. And now night.

It’s real here: baguette is something that surpasses stereotype. It surrounds the daily function of the Parisian, clings to the backs of those dedicated enough to leave an opening in their backpacks for the long strand of yeast-risen staple, breaks beneath the fingers of the eager who cannot make it home without finding the tip missing. Yup, baguette’s a thing. And today I wanted one real bad. That’s when I found teff flour for the first time in grocery stores here. Sha buy yah roll call

I think you’ve gotta be a bit of a geek to make it in this world. Tech-y stuff is all over, and what’s slightly paradoxical is that I’ve found the more I give up my old ways of traditional-is-better-because-it’s-more-human, unless I actually want to go Neanderthal, it’s hit me that these new advances in images and sound and things with computers and wires can actually make the human things we do more interesting.

It’s not like the computer made the baguette.

I say this because you may notice that these pictures look slightly better than the past. That’s because technically they are. I’ve succumbed to, with the greatest pleasure, an actual camera. It’s manual, I control things like aperture and shutter speed, and photoshop is now something taking up space in my hard drive. In between washing off the teff flour and gluten-free yeast from my hands, I spent my first day with my new ally in the kitchen. And then ate some baguette so I’d have something pretty to share with you. Of course, that was the only impetus to construct a plate like this.

Combine all dry ingredients in large bowl, adding salt at the very last second before you add liquid. (Salt will kill the yeast if left too long without the sugar to feed on.)

Add flax seed mixture and half of the teff milk. Knead with hands. Add honey/agave nectar and remainder of milk and more if needed to get a moist dough that is not sticky. If too dry, add more milk or a bit water. If sticky, add a bit of rice flour. Knead for about 5 minutes, form into a ball, and let rise in bowl covered with wet towel.

Knead again for 5 minutes, separate into three balls for mini baguettes, two balls for demi baguettes, or keep whole for a large baguette. Roll into a cylinder, then taper out the edges. Place on a prepared baking sheet (silicon mat and a light oiling will do quite well) and flatten a bit in the middle, and then fold in both edges (see photo at beginning of post). You’ll make a bit of a smushed taco. Flip over (the smush is the bottom of the baguette) and make lines with a small knife on the top. Cover with a damp towel and let rise about 1 1/2-2 hours minimum.* Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake bread for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with a fine layer of oil and sprinkle with salt. Place back in oven turned the other way, for even cooking, and bake another 10 minutes. If the inside or bottom is not cooked through, reduce heat to 375 F (185 degrees C) and bake for another 5-10 minutes. This really varies upon the size of your baguette and your oven. Remove from heat, let cool to touch, and consume within a day for freshness. To keep longer, keep it in the freezer until use.

*If preparing the night before, keep covered in the refrigerator and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours the next day.

The Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras forbade the eating of beans, as he decreed that the legumes contained something of which the soul was composed. I think he might have been exaggerating just a tad, but I can understand his enthusiasm for the magical fruit.

Tonight I had a simple rather bistro style dinner of gluten-free toasts and seasonal French cheese (easier to digest as it’s raw) and some leftover fava beans that I made into a sort of spread and topped with basil and mushrooms. It was awesome. And I didn’t feel like popping afterwards.

What’s so good about beans? Mr. Laertius may have been right about them being something exceptional, but here is the tip of the ice berg of reasons why they should not be banned from your regime:

1. Beans are a huge source of fiber. Yes, yes, that’s why they are also the “magical fruit”, but if you want to pass things that are not magical in your body, tally ho.

2. Beans have a low glycemic index. Composed of complex sugars, these carbohydrates take time for your body to break down, but are easier to process. This makes you stay full longer, reducing cravings, while providing a natural source of sugar your body readily uses, not stores.

3. Beans are full of protein. In combination with rice, they make a complete amino acid, which is the protein found in meat that most vegans or vegetarians are missing from their diet of they don’t work for it.

4. Beans are full of vitamins and minerals. Another problem vegetarians might find, or anyone really, is a low level of iron. Beans have a lot of this– as well as copper, magnesium, folate, and vitamin B6, which is a vitamin that is reduced if you’re drinking booze, so if you’re making some parties, jump on board with the beans to get your energy back up!

5. They taste awesome when cooked from their dry form with a bit of thyme and a bay leaf, and then are sautéed with onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric, cumin, a touch soy sauce, and some oregano afterwards. Oh yeah.

…and they’re also gluten-free. (since you find them on this blog, you can imagine they would be!)

-So, that was weird. I suppose moving countries has more logistical difficulties than visas and languages and learning when to smile or not (hello Paris metro system). It also involves not receiving bills and not knowing you’re not receiving bills and suddenly having your web-site host cut you off. Bills are found, domains are renewed, and we’re back and rockin’.-

Anyyyways,

HOMEMADE PIZZA!!!

: ) gluten-free, vegan.

Your stomach has grown, admit it. After all the turkey, ham, scalloped potatoes, yams, hashbrowns for breakfast because why not it’s the holidays, yeah, it’s swimming with space.

You probably want something like pizza but totally don’t want to eat it because you feel like you’ve gone too far.

Well, that’s good.

<–because I’m lower in fat than an egg! I also talk! Amazing pizza crust I will be.

Upon returning home from a French-Grandma-created food holiday season in the Burgundy countryside (I ate a ton), I got diligent revising the Second Edition of the Bubble Child cookbook. This little pizza miracle was born from that.

Perhaps your eyes (like mine) are still bigger than your stomach after all of that celebrating. Go’on… cure that with pizza. The only thing too full will be your to-do-list of toppings after trying this crust. Somehow this gluten-free tastiness is vegan… meat-lovers, feel free to top it with ham.

Preparation time: 20 minutes + 3 hours rising timeCooking time: about 15 minutesYields two small or one large pizza crust

1. In a sauté pan, toast flaxseeds in 1 tbs. grapeseed oil over medium heat for about 1 minute, stirring constantly, or until you hear them start to pop like popcorn. Immediately remove from heat add 1/4 cup + 2 tbs. water. Blend in an electric blender until mixture is white in color and creamy. Set aside.
2. Combine yeast, flour, and starch in large bowl with a whisk. Add 1/2 cup room temperature water and stir with a spatula for 2 minutes. (Or in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment over low speed.) Add honey or agave and salt. Mix for another 6 minutes. Mixture should be thickened enough to hold up a credit card if inserted. Add vinegar and olive oil and mix for another 2 minutes.
3. Form into a clean mound in the middle of the bowl and cover with a damp towel. Let rise for 15 minutes. Mix with spatula again, return to a clean mound, cover, and let rise for 2 hours covered with a damp towel.
4. Mix with spatula again, and spread onto parchment paper in the size circle you want your pizza to be. Cover with a damp towel (making sure it doesn’t touch the mixture) and let rise for another 30 minutes to an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit with your pizza pan or baking sheet already inside. Remove baking sheet from oven, put parchment paper with pizza dough directly on top of hot sheet pan, and pre-cook for 5 minutes. Remove, let cool a few minutes, and brush gently with olive oil. Cover with desired toppings. Bake for another 5-10 minutes, or until edges are browned, bottom is cooked, and toppings are crisped to your liking.